Him
by mouse555
Summary: Has Jasper's head been turned by another? AH


**Disclaimer – I don't own Twilight, but will soon own my very own copy of Dread on DVD!**

**This story is dedicated to HeartOfDarkness who gave me the opener and provided me with an outlet to begin to cure my inspirational muteness! Love ya Darlin'**

Him

It was wrong. So wrong, but all ways of right. I knew for my family's sake I should keep up the façade of thinking only of her, but he was so compelling…so beautiful…so out of my reach.

I was sucked in the first time our eyes met. I looked deep into his dark orbs and was lost instantly. His hair looked soft as silk and my hands itched to tangle it among my fingers. It was such an unusual colour, not brown and not red. An in-between colour that could only be described as bronze, an unruly metallic bronze. Alice was stood by my side so I managed to force myself to keep my hands in the pockets of my jeans.

Although he was slender, I could make out the defined back muscles under his coat. Again, I had an overwhelming desire to run my hands over them. Alice placed her tiny hand gently on my slightly trembling arm as if to remind me that she was still there. I turned to her in a daze. I couldn't believe I'd forgotten all about the love of my life standing right next to me. I bent down to place a gentle, slightly guilty kiss on her perfect lips.

We turned to leave, but I couldn't resist looking back at him once more. It felt as my heart was connected to him by and extremely taut elastic band which was getting tighter, the further I walked away. Eventually, I was able to follow Alice away from him.

Jasper, what on earth is wrong with you?" She asked as she manoeuvred our tiny car onto the main road.

"Just thinking darlin'" I smiled reassuringly. Did she notice me looking at him? This had never happened to me before. How could I have let myself get my heard turned in this way? I prided myself on being loyal and true to my loved ones. I couldn't allow myself to be swept away by the fantasy of him beneath me, hot, sweaty and panting. I shook my head to rid myself of the pictures.

Alice knew my mind was elsewhere the next few days, but seemed to put it down to exam stress and the worry of Alice planning our wedding in the summer. Thankfully, I wasn't allowed to do much on that front seeing as Alice and her mum Esme were well away with it all. I only needed to be able to dress myself in a suit (as yet unseen) and arrive on time at the venue (as yet unseen).

A few times, when Alice had been taken out 'wedding shopping' by Esme, I took a break from my studies and drove to the last place I saw him, but he was never there. I tried no to let the disappointment rule me, but I couldn't get his perfect body lines out of my mind and it was slowly driving me mental. I was at serious risk of failing my exams and not fulfilling my dreams of teaching art and history as I spent all my revision time sketching pictures of him away from Alice's eagle eye.

I eventually bucked up my ideas enough to put him out of my mind's eye long enough to get through my exams. I did minimal revision, but made sure what I did do was intense. All I had to do now was sit back and wait for my results. I was alone a lot as wedding fever began to turn Alice into a Tasmanian devil of a bridezilla! I spent hours in the tiny studio I had created in the spare bedroom of our tiny flat with my charcoal and reams of paper. I couldn't wait until we could afford our own place in the country so I could draw and paint outside. It had been a while since I had done any kind of life drawing of anyone other than Alice, but his lines just called to be recorded forever. My hand literally flew across the paper.

I tried to ensure that Alice never saw the portraits, but as usual when I was in my studio, she rarely intruded upon me. She knew I liked to be alone unless I asked her to model for me, and I loved her for it. The guilt was eating away at me and gave my work a raw edge I had never seen before. How could I think of drawing him constantly when I was due to marry my beloved Alice?

When they arrived, my exam results surprised me. I was absolutely elated to have passed everything and I was now free of University. All I needed to do was find a good job so that I could support my wife and any future family. As much as I loved and respected them, I was not going to live off the extreme generosity of Alice's parents. I knew I was in for a tough time wanting to teach at secondary level, but I felt able to handle whatever was thrown at me, in some case literally I'd heard,

I sat up in bed reading the classifieds when Alice cam flying in waving a piece of paper at me, squealing at a decibel level only audible to the local dogs.

"What's going on darlin'?" I rubbed my hands over my tired face.

"Oh, Jazz! You have to get up, now." She ran to the wardrobe and proceeded to throw my daily outfit at me.

"Ok, who are you and what have you done with my Alice?" I laughed. She had thrown me a plain white t shirt and a pair of well worn jeans at me.

"Shut up and get dressed. Meet me in the car, you've got five minutes." She twirled on her boot heel and danced along the corridor. I pulled myself out of bed and had the fastest wash in the western world before pulling y clothes on. I felt good to be in what I saw as normal clothes, but what Alice saw as charity shop donations. I hopped along the hall pulling my boots on before grabbing my jacket and keys and running out to the car.

"Thirty seconds to spare." I was strangely proud of myself, but still confused as to what was happening. "So babe, where are we going?"

"It's a surprise." Alice pulled away from the curb and set off, driving her usual warp speed. I caught sight of myself in the wing mirror. My usually unruly, curly hair was looking even more like a haystack than usual thanks to the rush. I mooched around in the glove box until I found one of Alice's hair bands. I pulled my blonde mop into a rough pony tail and checked it out in the mirror. "Ohh Jazz, that looks great on you. Perfect look for an eccentric art teacher." Her baby blues travelled from my hair to my face.

"Well, seeing as I had no time to get ready this morning, it's the best I can do without resorting to a drastic trip to the barbers." It was an empty threat and we both knew I would never cut my hair. "So, what's going on sugar?"

"Ten minutes and all will be revealed." She was practically quivering with excitement as she answered me cryptically. She always got like this when she was about to reveal a secret.

I noticed that we had left the city limits and were soon turning into a long dirt track. Alice soon pulled up at what looked like a Texan style ranch slap bang in the middle of Kent. It looked so much like my childhood home back in the Lonestar State that I could feel the tears threatening to fall.

"Alice...What..." I couldn't formulate anything more distinguished. I took a deep breath to calm myself, but before I was able to say anything else, the beautiful woman beside me began to explain, sort of.

"Before you ask, this has nothing to do with mum and dad. I paid for all of this myself." I gazed at her in wonder. "Mum helped with the interior, as did yours." My mum? How? "She emailed me photos of where you grew up. Want to see inside?" She handed me a single key.

The shock hit my like a freight train as I walked in through the door. I felt as if I stepped back in time to my childhood. I could see the differences, but the interior was so similar to my parent's house I couldn't help but feel as I were five years old again, playing cowboys and Indians.

"Do you like it?" Alice's voice was unusually quiet. "I know you've been so homesick for the last few years, I wanted to bring your southern roots into our family home." I wrapped my arms round her tiny waist.

"Darlin', it's wonderful. As long as you haven't decorated our bedroom with cowboys it'll be all good."

"Darn, better get it changed quickly." I covered her face in soft, gentle kisses as we wandered round the house. I couldn't believe it was ours. I knew Alice had a large trust fund, but this was mind blowing. I needed to get a job sharpish to make up to her everything she had done for me. "There's one more surprise, but this one is from mum and dad for passing your exams." I was just about to say that they had all done enough for me. "Don't get that look on your face Jasper Whitlock. My parents love you like a son, let them do this for you. You earned it."

"Alice…" She rolled her eyes at me.

"It's a present. Be gracious about it. Once you start working, then you can be a grump." She gently tied her silk scarf around my eyes, and began to lead me back outside making sure I didn't stumble.

"Jasper." I recognised Esme's voice as he hugged me. "Carlisle and I wanted to congratulate you on your excellent exam results. Alice has been restoring the house for a while now, and we wanted to give you something that would compliment it and you perfectly." Alice whipped off the scarf and I was met with a vision.

I couldn't believe my eyes, it was _him_. How did they know? His beautiful bronze hair was buffeted by the gentle breeze.

"His name's Edward." I walked towards him, a smile on my face. I was finally going to be able to feel for myself how soft his hair was. I ran my hands gently over his hard body, making his quiver from my touch before swinging myself up into the saddle on his back.

"Esme, Carlisle." I didn't know what to say. "Thank you, all of you." I flashed them a grin and wheeled round so Edward and I could be together, finally.


End file.
